Conventionally, an electrical connector is widely used for interconnecting electrical wires or an electrical wire and a terminal. A variety of contacts types, such as a crimping type contact and an IDC contact type contact, may be used as a method of connection to an electrical wire. IDC contacts are widely utilized, in part, because of their operational efficiency, in particular, an ability to connect a plurality of electrical wires to a plurality of contacts at once.
A conventional IDC contact generally has a single or a pair of IDC plates, and an electrical wire is connected to the IDC plate in an IDC manner. However, if a tension due to vibrations, an impact, or the like, acts on an electrical wire connected to the IDC contact, a force may act directly on an IDC member, thereby causing an incomplete connection of the electrical wire.
Many attempts have been made to solve the problem of an incomplete connection of the electrical wire to the conventional IDC contact. For example, Japanese Patent No. H04-88662U discloses a conventional IDC contact 101 shown in FIG. 9.
The IDC contact 101 has an elongated base plate 110 extending along a longitudinal axis. A substantially-box-like contact mating portion 120 for receiving a complimentary mating contact (not shown) is positioned at a mating end of the base plate 110. An IDC member 130 is positioned at a substantially-central location along the longitudinal axis of the base plate 110, and a crimping portion 140 is positioned at an opposite terminating end of the base plate 110.
The IDC member 130 includes a pair of IDC plates 131, 132 located so as to be separated by a predetermined distance along the longitudinal axis. Each of the IDC plates 131 is positioned proximate to the mating end and each of the IDC plates 132 is positioned proximate to the terminating end. Additionally, each of the IDC plates 131,132 extends in a direction orthogonal the longitudinal axis, and in a height direction from the base plate 110. In each IDC plate 131, 132, an insulation cutting slit 131a, 132a is formed so as to extend downward from an upper end along the length of the place 131,132.
The crimping portion 140 has a pair of offset wire crimping bases 141, 142 extending from both sides of the base plate 110, being formed in parallel with the base plate 110. The crimping portion 140 also has a pair of crimping arms 143, 144 corresponding to the wire crimping bases 141, 142, each rising from the opposite sides of the base plates 110. The pair of wire crimping bases 141, 142 have a function to adjust a vertical position of the crimping portion 140 according to the positions of the IDC slits 131a, 132a of the pair of IDC plates 131, 132 of the IDC member 130.
An electrical wire (not shown) is connected to the IDC member 130 of the IDC contact 101, and an outer insulation layer of the electrical wire is crimped and fixed by the crimping portion 140. In the regard, when a tension due to vibrations, an impact, or the like acts on the electrical wire connected to the IDC contact 101, a force can be prevented from directly acting on the IDC portion 130 by the crimping portion 140. Further, the electrical wire connected to the IDC member 130 and crimped and fixed to the crimping portion 140, becomes substantially in alignment with the pair of wire crimping bases 141, 142. Thereby, a stress on the electrical wire can be minimized.
However, the conventional IDC contact 101 shown in FIG. 9 has the following problems. Firstly, the pair of wire crimping bases 141, 142 in the crimping portion 140 are positioned so as to be offset along the longitudinal axis of the base plate 110. Secondly, the pair of crimping arms 143, 144 are positioned so as to correspond to the wire crimping bases 141, 142 and are likewise positioned offset along the longitudinal axis of the base plate 110. Therefore, a space occupied by the crimping portion 140 along the longitudinal axis in which the base plate 110 extends, is large, requiring the electrical connector in which the IDC contact 101 is housed to correspondingly be much larger.